


Howl and Calcifer

by jmtorres



Category: Howl's Moving Castle - Diana Wynne Jones
Genre: Gen, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-06-27
Updated: 2005-06-27
Packaged: 2017-10-09 09:17:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/85610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jmtorres/pseuds/jmtorres
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One of the first things he'd learned when he'd landed in Howl's cupped hands was that people could burn, and complained about it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Howl and Calcifer

It was a strange thing, to hold a man's heart. It was red and slick and still moving under Calcifer's flames, still pumping. Howl had examined the spell sideways, upside-down, and backwards (after it was done, which was a rather foolish time for it, but Calcifer was grateful) and had determined that there was a dislocation element--that even though his heart was three feet away from his chest, cradled with Calcifer in his palm, its valves still opened on his veins, and his blood still flowed through its chambers.

Howl had already come up with what he informed Calcifer was an ingenious way to use this dislocation spell to tie the doors of half a dozen houses in half a dozen cities to one doorway in one house. "I might as well. I already have to tell people not to go in the pantry, it's Wales," he said.

"What's Wales?" Calcifer asked. He reached down and plucked a piece of grass from between Howl's thumb and forefinger to chew on. Howl was lying in the field where he'd caught Calcifer, gazing up at the sky.

"It's where I'm from," said Howl. "It's different from here. For one thing, falling stars aren't--aren't _stars._ They're little bits of rock. Meteorites. They only burn because of the friction of going through the atmosphere."

"But it's just air," Calcifer said, baffled.

"How far away are you from?" Howl asked. "Farther than the moon? The sun? Did you used to be bigger?"

Calcifer gave Howl a disdainful look. "Of _course_ I used to be bigger." In the cold dark of the sky, he'd consumed a great deal of matter, trying to stay alight.

"In Wales," said Howl, "stars are enormous. Bigger than planets. Much bigger."

"The sky must be very bright," said Calcifer. "How is there room for them all?"

"They're far away," said Howl. "So far away that it takes years and years for their light to reach us. Did you fall for years and years before you got here?"

"No," said Calcifer. "I think you saw the whole thing, or most of it, just now. It took less than a minute."

"It keeps sneaking up on me, how different it is here," said Howl. "In Wales, if you took a man's heart out, he'd die. The poetry of it--the idea of the heart feeling--it doesn't even enter into the equation." He rolled onto his stomach, leaning on his elbow and holding Calcifer and his heart carefully. He put his other hand on his chest and said, studying Calcifer intently. "I can feel you, in here. It's hot."

"Does it hurt?" Calcifer asked curiously. One of the first things he'd learned when he'd landed in Howl's cupped hands was that people could burn, and complained about it.

"No," said Howl. "It's just strange. A reminder." He smiled thoughtfully and lay down on his side, stretching out his arm again. "I like it."

Howl watched him for a bit like that, and Calcifer watched back some, but mostly grazed. After a bit, Howl's heartbeart started to slow down. "Are you dying?" Calcifer asked. Howl had as much as said he'd thought he would, when he first gave Calcifer his heart.

"No," said Howl. "I'm just looking at your colors. They're very nice."

After Howl's eyes had closed and his heart beat slow and steady, Calcifer realized he'd consumed all the grass he could, and he delicately started on Howl's shirt sleeve. By the time Howl woke up, Calcifer was up to his elbow.

The fight that ensued was the first time Calcifer saw Howl live up to his name. But it wasn't the last.

**Author's Note:**

> Also archived on dreamwidth: <http://jmtorres.dreamwidth.org/689886.html>.


End file.
